The Only Place You Can Send a 5GB Attachment!

Written by Rose Kwok, Product Manager, AOL Mail

Many of you may have read the article in USA Today (found here: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2008-04-15-google-gmail-webmail_N.htm) on AOL Mail’s feature that allows sending of large attachments via email. Here are some more details on how you too can use Xdrive to send up to 5GB of attachments.

How can you start using Xdrive to send large attachments?

First, Xdrive is only available in Beta for now, so access your AOL Mail account at http://beta.webmail.aol.com.

Start composing email as you normally would by clicking on “Compose.” After you click on “Attach file” browse and select your attachment. You will notice an updated dialog box:






If you would like to upload via Xdrive, simply select the check box towards the bottom of the dialog. For files over 16MB, your attachments will automatically get uploaded via Xdrive. If you don’t already have an Xdrive account, you will see a brief confirmation dialog. Be sure to click “I Agree” to create a new account. When you are done, click Send and your attachments will be sent along with your email.

When your recipients receive the email, they will see the attachment(s) as a link. All they need to do is click on the link to retrieve the attachment(s) via Xdrive.

What is Xdrive?

Xdrive is a 5GB personal hard drive on the Internet. You can get easy backup and secure storage, just like an external hard drive, but without the worry of losing or damaging a piece of hardware. You can simply upload files to Xdrive and securely access your files anywhere over the web. You can even share your files with your friends and family by allowing them permission. All this, for free.

Enjoy,

Rose

Tired of Repeatedly Logging In?

Written by Tom Lynch, Business Manager, AOL Mail

To provide a more streamlined and convenient webmail experience, we are pleased to bring you a new user option that will allow you to stay permanently logged in.

This new user option is offered just beneath the Password field in the Sign In box. Simply check the box next to "Stay signed in until I sign out." and you're done.




Once checked, you can immediately access your Inbox without having to log in every time you come to an AOL property.

However, please be aware of a couple things. First, once selected this will override your Auto Sign Off setting. Second, be careful on enabling on a shared computer. Enabling this feature on a shared computer would allow anyone using this same computer to access your email account.

To learn more about how this new feature works, simply click here.

See What's New in WebSuite "Goa"

Written by Rose Kwok, Product Manager, AOL Mail

We know how much you rely on WebSuite for Mail, Calendar and Address Book. That's why we want to keep making it better for you. After months of hard work, the WebSuite team is excited to launch another release of Websuite Standard and WebSuite Basic, codenamed “Goa.” (Did you know Goa is a coastal, tropical island and the smallest state in India?)

Here’s a preview of the new things you will find in your Inbox:

Safer Mail

For your protection, WebSuite has been blocking images from unknown senders. We have now added link blocking as well. No more worrying about clicking a link that could take you to inappropriate content or a phishing site.

Performance

We know you want things fast, and making WebSuite faster was the focus for "Goa" – from loading WebSuite to reading and sending messages. For the techies among you, we've upgraded the entire Standard application to the 1.0 version of the Dojo toolkit for snappier performance! You also may have noticed that the “Unsend” and “Status” features were removed from this WebSuite release. Because of the way these features were implemented, they were preventing us from achieving the best product performance. So, we made the difficult decision to remove them from WebSuite. If you are a hardcore “Status” user, or have an “Unsend” emergency, you can still find these features in our integrated clients (AOL 9.1 and AOL Desktop).

MapQuest

Love MapQuest? We do too. That’s why we’ve put WebSuite and Mapquest together. Need directions to your next party? When you add a location to a new event in Calendar, we will parse your address and show you where it is on a map from Mapquest. Voila!
(Feature currently not available in Basic version)

AIM Integration

The IM windows you minimize within WebSuite will now flash when you have new incoming IMs so you will never miss a message again. We also added a new IM button to your read and compose mail views that alerts you when your friends are online. When you start writing a new message, WebSuite will check whether your buddies are online and the button will light up if they are, allowing you to IM with them in real time.
(AIM currently not available in Basic version)

Calendar

You asked for it, we’ve got it! For those of you who love and use our Basic version, you will be glad to hear that we added AOL Calendar to the fast product many have come to love. Just as in the Standard version, you will be able to view your personal calendar in month, week or day view. Make it even more fun by sharing it with your friends and family. Best of all, AOL Basic Calendar is fully accessible.

For those of you using the Standard version, we’ve got something for you too. AOL Calendar now supports importing calendars from any iCal (.ics) URL and similarly exporting any public calendars as iCal files.

AOL Journals

Do you use AOL Journals? If so, WebSuite now provides 1-click access straight to your Journals page. Start sharing your stories with the world!
(Panels not available in Basic version)

And more…

Safari 3 users will now be able to use the Rich Text Editor to make all their emails colorful and pretty. More features (including Drafts for AOL accounts and a “Keep Me Signed In” option) will be coming in the next few weeks, so please stay tuned.

Hope you love “Goa” as much as we do. Enjoy and let us know what you think.

Rose